


The Goldfish Bowl

by SaekoCrolla (Crollalanza)



Series: Sports Fest 2018 Haikyuu!! [35]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Established Relationship, M/M, kenma has hidden depths but we all know that
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-09
Updated: 2018-11-09
Packaged: 2019-08-21 01:38:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 826
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16567139
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crollalanza/pseuds/SaekoCrolla
Summary: It's when he's unpacking that Kita finds the bowl, and it puzzles him because Kenma's never mentioned keeping fish before.





	The Goldfish Bowl

**Author's Note:**

> Written for sportsfest and I 'think' the prompt was 'Most Likely to have a goldfish bowl'.

The bowl is wrapped in newspaper and packed between several sweaters and a hoodie. Shinsuke finds it when he’s unpacking the last of the boxes, and he holds it in his hands for a while, before setting it down on the chest of drawers.

Under the light, he can see it had been dusted before the move. The sun is unrelenting in its revelations, but there are no smears in the glass, or chips or cracks. Shinsuke sniffs at it, but there’s no odour, either.

It is a goldfish bowl. That is all.

Kenma’s never mentioned a goldfish. He’s never talked about pets at all, apart from saying everyone expects him to have an affinity with cats and that was in the context of their apartment hunt and whether to exclude those that insisted on ‘no pets’.

Do fish count as pets? Shinsuke wonders.

Would they be breaking the terms of the lease in keeping one?

Or two.

Maybe Kenma wants a fish as a prelude to getting an aquarium. Perhaps he finds staring at a tank with colourful fish, pink coral and garish vegetation to be relaxing.

If Shinsuke owned a pet, it wouldn’t be a fish. He wonders if this would surprise Kenma because he’s perceived as an observer. And that’s true, but he likes to watch action, likes to see impulsive moves, to wonder if there’s a pattern or whether plays are purely on the fly.

He’d get a dog … possibly.

 

~~~

 

Kenma arrives back from work and slumps on the sofa.

“Bad day?”

“The usual,” Kenma groans in reply. He peeps from beneath his fringe and smiles a little as Shinsuke places a cup of tea on a coaster in front of him. “Thanks.”

He’s never loquacious at the best of times, but it takes him until he’s finished his tea to ask Shinsuke how his day was.

“All’s good. Got through my work and finished the unpacking.”

“I would have done it,” Kenma says, and tries to stifle a yawn.

Shinsuke waves away the offer. Yes, Kenma would have finished, eventually, mainly because he knows Shinsuke liked things in order, but he’s not going to object to Shinsuke going through his box. He’s not precious about his belongings.

“I found your bowl,” Shinsuke says. “I didn’t know you liked fish.”

“Huh?” Kenma runs his fingers through his hair, letting it flop back on his face. “I don’t. Bowl was my grandma’s that’s all.”

“She had fish?”

“Nope. Beans.”

“Pardon?”

Drawing his knees up to his chest, Kenma takes a breath. “I’ve told you about her, haven’t I?”

“Quite strict. You spent part of your summer holidays with her.  _That_ grandmother?"

“Yeah. Along with my cousins. She had a house in the country, quite large so we all used to go there. She _said_ she liked having us there.”

The but isn’t said, yet it’s hovering in the air between them. Shinsuke sits next to him, sipping his own tea as he waits.

“Grandma filled the bowl with beans. If anyone misbehaved, she’d remove some of them. We were told if all the beans were gone then the ‘consequences would be dire’.”

“Can’t imagine you being a badly behaved kid, Kenma.”

“Uh, depends on your definition.” He shrugs. “I didn’t want to go on long walks, or play board games with everyone. I hated swimming and preferred reading books.” A crease appeared on his brow. “I wasn’t allowed electronics. Caught with one of them, and she’d dock me three beans. For the first time.”

“So you lost a lot of beans,” Shinsuke guesses because he knows how unwilling Kenma is to submit to an unfair authority.

Kenma chuckles. “I lost _all_ of them. Well, ‘lost’ is a euphemism.”

“In what way?”

“She’d confiscated my game, Mom didn’t help, and my cousins were pissed at me, so … I got up one night and tipped all the beans in the bin.”

“Ahhh!” Shinsuke tips his head back, a smile on his face as he glances at Kenma. “Please tell me the ‘consequences were dire’!”

“We left in disgrace,” Kenma replies and laughs again.

“Which was what you wanted all along, I guess.”

“Well … yeah. I hated spending time there, and the only person I liked playing with back then was Kuro and even that was an effort.”

He imagines a small Kenma, standing up to the tyranny the only way he knew how, weighing up his options and deciding on the best course of action. Deliberate, not entirely sure of the outcome, but sure enough to take that risk.

“So … why do you have the bowl?”

“Um, because when she died, I was in her house and saw the damn thing and … it made me realise that was the first time I’d taken my fate in my own hands. Does that sound weird?”

Shinsuke twirls some of Kenma’s hair between his finger and thumb, delighting in the silkiness. “Not weird,” he replies. “It’s very you.”


End file.
